


In My Time of Dying

by magebirdi



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Lucifer (TV)
Genre: azrael wasn't supposed to be in this at first but she just wrote herself in, grim reaper!jason au, i was going to name it after azrael's ep in lucifer but decided to be a little more creative, just imagine lucifer is set in the same universe as batfam stuff, yes this fic is named after a supernatural episode
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:34:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22794076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magebirdi/pseuds/magebirdi
Summary: Jason Todd knew he was sacrificing a normal life when he tried stealing the wheels off of the Batmobile. Becoming Robin, dying at the Joker's hand, and being resurrected as the Red Hood were admittedly something he could have expected - if he was a little more creative when imagining where he'd be in the future.But something Jason hadn't ever expected was a deal with a reaper.Now very much alive, Jason still straddles the line between death's dealer and collector. It's a difficult, tiring life, but Jason knows he can't go against the promise he made with the reaper years ago. But things in Gotham aren't what they seem, and the arrival of the reaper who showed him everything he knows about reaping makes it even harder to hide his secret from his family.tl;dr - A fic where Jason becomes a grim reaper after he dies, keeps the job when he comes back to life, and accidentally befriends a "reaper" that's secretly the angel of death herself.
Relationships: Batfamily Members & Jason Todd, Batfamily Members & Other(s), Jason Todd & Azrael (Lucifer TV)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 80





	1. Chapter 1

Jason Todd is many people.

According to the kids of Crime Alley, Jason Todd is a local legend. He had grown up on the streets of Crime Alley before being adopted by none other than Bruce Wayne. Then there had been a tragic death the Wayne family had tried to cover up - to this day, no one is _exactly_ sure how he died. 

It’s an accepted fact that Jason Todd is dead - just as it’s accepted that, on the darkest of nights, one might see his ghost wandering through Gotham’s streets.

According to the criminals of Crime Alley, Jason Todd is the Red Hood. They may not know who Jason Todd is, but they never make the connection between the former Robin and the current anti-hero. Red Hood, for the most part, attacks the more powerful criminals. If you keep your head down low and don’t get in trouble with the law _too_ much, you’ll probably be safe. He can, after all, only be in so many places at once.

According to the occupants of Wayne Manor, Jason Todd is like a ghost in the best sense of the word. Old wounds have healed between them and him, but Jason has a tendency to appear and disappear without warning. Sometimes, he’ll appear to offer assistance on patrols. Other times, he’ll pull a prank that would leave his youngest brother seething for a good week. And sometimes he’ll show up after his replacement gets injured, comforting him when the worries of the superhero world become too much to handle. 

According to Jason Todd, he’s all of these things. Some of them he’s more proud to own up to than others. But, for the most part, he knows that he’s a cryptid. That he’s a menace. That he’s a brother, a son, and potentially a grandson when it came to Alfred.

(Some bonds are easier to define than others, but the less definite ones are no less valid.) 

But Jason is something else, too.

After all, no one knew what Jason does as a day job.

**xXx**

It’s been a long day.

Jason has spent a good part of it doing _that_ part of his job, and would be very happy if he could just focus on the fighting crime bit - thank you very much. Tonight’s nothing major. He’s just patrolling around Crime Alley’s streets, keeping an eye for anything suspicious. Crime Alley is home in life as much as death. Jason Todd might be dead to the world, but he can’t ignore his ties to this place.

It’s been pretty uneventful. He’s stopped a mugging here and there. He’s attacked a few men trying to make an advance on a lone woman, and helped her get back to her apartment. He’s stopped a drug deal between a shady man and some kids, and made sure said shady man will never again try taking advantage of Crime Alley’s kids. 

But then he catches a whiff of a familiar smell.

Jason gets a pit in his stomach. After all of the fights he’s been in, and all of the deaths he’s caused as Red Hood, one would think he was used to that smell. But he’s not. He’ll never be. It’s a sickening sweet smell, but also has a slightly metallic tang. 

He turns the corner.

There’s a little boy, sitting there. At least, that’s what it first looks like. His head is hung over the rest of the body so Jason can’t see his face, and his legs are pulled closed to his chest. He looks so _peaceful_. Jason almost doesn’t want to disturb him. But then he remembers what his actual job is, and reminds himself that he signed up for this.

There’s movement in the back of the alleyway.

Jason raises his head. He’s got his guns ready. He can just barely make out a figure of a girl standing there in the darkness just _watching_ it all. The dead boy on the ground must have been there for awhile from the smell of decay, but, for a moment, he wonders if the onlooker is the one who caused the death.

Then he sees the familiar face. 

“What are you doing?” the girl says. She’s looking out from behind a pair of glasses that mask just how old and tired her eyes really are - Jason’s seen her without them once or twice. Her outfit is questionable, as per usual.

“My job,” he says, his voice a little gruff. 

“Which one?” she asks. 

Jason gives her a look. He’s still got his helmet on, but he knows the look translates.

“ _What?_ ” she says. “It’s an innocent question. I don’t know who that boy is.”

“He’s dead,” Jason replies, his tone dry. “Which one do you think it is?”

“Oh,” the girl says. He’s pretty sure that she knows _exactly_ who the dead boy is, but she’s just trying to have some small talk. 

Jason, meanwhile, is a bit more focused on getting the job done. He slips his guns away and thinks for just a second. A spectral crowbar appears in his hand, coated in all of the spectral blood of the original. 

Now the girl’s standing by his side, peering down at him as he tries to visualize where the boy’s soul is. They like to move around a lot after they die. If Jason’s not careful, he won’t sever it neatly. And it’s _never_ good when the soul doesn’t sever right.

“Be careful,” the girl comments. “His soul moved around a lot. I think it’s in his leg-”

Jason confirms her suspicion with a strike of his crowbar - suddenly very solid and very real. The crowbar hits the boy's leg and sends the soul flying out. Jason goes to grab said soul, but the girl stops it from skidding across the pavement with her foot. 

“Thanks,” she says. She’s giving him a grin as she puts the soul away in the folds of the long coat that just appeared on her. He doesn’t really question how that last part works - she’s never explained it to him. “You’re doing really good these days, Jason.”

“There’s a lot of death in Gotham,” he replies. 

The crowbar disappears.

“What are you doing here, Rae?” he asks. “I thought you said you were done babysitting me.” 

The tone comes out as harsh. If Jason wasn’t so used to using that tone with the people he cares about, he might have been a bit gentler. He’s admittedly a little concerned - she had said they wouldn’t be seeing each other back when he was first resurrected. If she’s here now, she’s got a favor for him to take care of.

And that makes him both annoyed and grateful.

“I just wanted to visit,” she said. “I was in town, so I thought I’d see how my favorite reaper was doing.” 

Jason doesn’t give a response to that.

According to Rae, there’s a lot of them. Dead people with regrets that _should_ have become ghosts, but instead became something different. Rae’s one of the first. She’s never outright said it, but Jason can just tell from the way she holds herself. She doesn’t feel young. 

But that doesn’t mean anything to him. There’s a lot of them, so Rae should have come by sooner. She’ll pull the excuse of being too busy, just like she always does. Jason’s got two little brothers at this point. He knows that he’s being immature and unreasonable. But the part of him that still hates how Bruce replaced him so soon after he died hates how he apparently meant nothing to the girl he had once considered to be a friend. 

Jason heads back out into the streets, walking underneath the flickering light of a broken streetlight.

And Rae, who really should have expected this reaction but didn’t, lets out a sigh before disappearing back into the darkness.

Jason pretends he doesn’t hear her go, “Smell ya later.”


	2. Chapter 2

**_Five Years Ago_ **

The first thing Jason does when he realizes he’s somehow alive is cough.

He coughs and coughs and coughs, trying to get the last remnants of the explosion out of his lungs. His body surprisingly isn’t aching that much, despite being in the middle of an explosion. And he knows that the bomb really did go off. He hasn’t dealt with a lot of them during his time as Robin, but he knows the smell.

Plus, he’s standing in a pile of rubble.

He gives a triumphant cry.

Which turns into another cough, but Jason doesn’t really care. He’s _alive_. He knows he should be dead. But he’s not. He can check on his mom, check on Bruce, and catch the Joker-

There’s movement nearby.

Bruce has shown up. He looks distraught. Jason knows it’s because he’s expecting to find Jason in the rubble, but it’s okay. He’s alive! He waves at Bruce and shouts his name at the very top of his lungs. 

But Bruce doesn’t turn.

He leans down with his lips in a solemn line, and picks up this _thing_ from the rubble. For the first few moments, Jason doesn’t realize what he’s looking at. It looks so unfamiliar and so _broken_.

And so impossible.

He’s staring at his own broken, battered body.

Jason’s hand falls down to his side. 

Bruce cradles his body in his arms. Jason doesn’t notice how he’s crying, or how tightly he’s holding onto him. He’s barely processing the fact that he’s dead, and barely processing the fact that he’s watching this all happen as a ghost. 

That’s when he notices her.

A girl who hadn’t been there in the warehouse. She looks a little weird, standing there in her long, black coat and with her hair cut in a bob. Her eyes are so old and wise compared to his own - it reminds him a little of what he sees when he looks into Bruce’s while they’re on patrol. 

What he _had_ seen when he looked into Bruce’s.

“Hi,” the girl says, way too casual for a moment like this.

Jason glances over at Bruce. He has to tear his eyes away a second later - it’s too hard to look at his former self and his grieving...whatever Bruce was to him.

“Oh, he can’t see me,” the girl says. “Only you can.”

“You can see me?” he croaks out. He’s not sure if it sounds as pitiful as it does because of the smoke he inhaled, or because he just doesn’t have the strength to speak anymore.

The girl nods.

“Duh,” she says. “I _am_ talking to you.” 

Jason falters. He doesn’t really know what’s going on. He doesn’t _think_ she’s a ghost. She doesn’t fit what he’s always imagined them to look like. Then he remembers that he’s a ghost now, and that he doesn’t fit what he imagined, either. 

“Who are you?” he asks, voice wary. He’s scanning the rubble for something he can use as a weapon. Part of him knows he probably can’t grab onto anything as a ghost, but he’s wisely ignoring his voice of reason.

The girl thinks for a minute.

“A friend,” she finally decides. “Don’t worry, Jason - I’m not going to hurt you.”

He pauses mid-search. “You know my name?”

He reaches a hand up to touch his face. He can still feel his mask there, as broken as it currently is. And he’s wearing the rest of the Robin outfit, too. Either it’s a lot easier to guess his secret identity than he thought, or this girl knows way more than she should. 

She nods. “I do.”

He gives her a suspicious look. “ _How_ do you know my name?”

She holds her hands up in mock surrender. “Because I’m a grim reaper!”

He takes a step back away from her. The search for a weapon becomes a little more desperate. He needs to find some way to protect himself from her - he can’t go yet. Not when Bruce is mourning him, and not when Dick and Alfred don’t even know he’s gone. “You’re here to take my soul.” 

Now it’s the girl who takes a step back, hands still up in the air.

“Yes and no,” she says. She draws out the “e” of “yes” with a conflicted expression on her face. “I’m _technically_ supposed to take your soul right now, but your soul is...weird.”

Jason glances down at himself.

“My soul isn’t weird,” he defensively replies.

“...Funny, then,” the girl corrects. “I could reap your soul, but you don’t want to go and I don’t think you _have_ to go. So I’ve got a deal for you - want to be a reaper with me?” 

The proposal is so sudden and abrupt that Jason doesn’t really register it at first. He just _stares_ at her, mouth agape as Bruce gives what could almost be sobs in the background. Maybe it’s that noise that makes him really consider what she’s offering. Maybe it’s the fear of what comes next.

Jason really isn’t sure.

He just knows that the only thing that makes sense to him is agreeing to her deal.

The girl holds out her hand. She gives him a warm, comforting smile. Jason gets flashbacks to when he tried stealing the wheels off of the Batmobile. He’s not sure what’s going to happen to him now, but it feels both worrying and good. 

Jason grabs onto her hand.

“Oh, wow,” she says. “You’ve got a tight grip, Jason.” 

Despite her comment, she doesn’t seem bothered by said grip.

He gives her a small smile. In the background, Bruce wipes away the few tears that have fallen onto his cowl. “So what’s your name?” he asks. “If you know my name, I should know yours.”

The girl mulls over it for a second.

“Rae Rae,” she says. “But you seem like the type to call me Rae.” 

She’s right about that.

“Now what?” he asks.

Rae grins.

“I teach you how to reap your first soul.” 

She holds out her hand again - years later, Jason will think back on this moment and wonder just how long Rae waited for that human contact. But, in the current moment, Jason glances back at Bruce and his body. Bruce is lifting him off of the ground now and heading off towards the distant horizon. 

Jason takes her hand.

Rae leads him into the darkness.


End file.
